Ben Godfrey is well and truly addicted to shallow reef snapper fishing and for good reason too. He’s honed his snapper fishing skills in the Gold Coast and shares with us his tips and techniques for tangling with the big bruisers.
Background
There’s always something special about chasing snapper on our local grounds. It could be the anticipation as you cross the bar under the guise of darkness wondering if it’s the day you’re going to crack a 10 kg fish. Or maybe it’s the sight of seeing your braid come tight on the surface as the sun is popping its head over the horizon. Either way to me nothing beats hooking a cracking knobby on a soft plastic in 10 m of water on locked drags!
Float lining was the go-to method for chasing snapper whilst I was growing up and a lot of preparation was required to ensure a successful day on quality fish. All sorts of things would play a part including anchoring your boat in the right position, having your berley prepared the night before, using the correct sinker for the current and depth and probably the most important thing was timing. But then the soft plastic revolution arrived and it opened up a whole realm of opportunities to target these fish.
You have to be pretty dedicated to wake up at 4 am on a winter’s morning before work to cross the bar with frozen fingers and to top it off getting sprayed in the face as you hit a fresh south westerly chop. And as you travel to your first spot, wiping the salt water off your face you begin to imagine being rugged up in bed like everyone else but, if you want to catch good snapper in shallow water that’s the deal… and we do it because we love it!
Fishing the tides can also produce quailty snapper during the day.
Where and when
When you’re chasing snapper on inshore shallow reefs and bombies you’ll find yourself actually targeting certain sections of reef as opposed to the entire area. The specific section could be the size of a car or the size of a house but you have to pinpoint an exact spot. At any stage of the year the fish could be sitting on different sections of the reef, whether it be the sand, the drop off or even right on top.
When winter arrives it’s time to start targeting the larger fish that move in to spawn on our inshore reefs. Most of the time we’re targeting fish in depths from 8 to 25 m and where we start all depends on time, water clarity, wind and tide. When looking for snapper on inshore shallow reefs anywhere that holds bait is a good starting point as the snapper are generally on these reefs to feed not just to hang out. Look for any rises in the reef or signs of life as the snapper won’t usually be too far away.
Over a monthly period we’ve found the snapper to be holding in one certain depth for any number of reasons, whether it is an increase in water temperature or good amounts of bait so it only takes a couple trips to start working out where the fish are holding. It also pays to keep an eye on your sounder while travelling as you never know what you’re going to traverse over. After leaving the bar entrance it might only take a small patch of reef surrounded by a heap of sand with a bit of life on it for the snapper to be there. If you come across a patch like this on the way home give it a shot first thing on your next trip out – you might surprise yourself.
Secret spots are few and fair between these days so keeping your eyes glued to the sounder is the best way to find new marks. We are fortunate enough to have some awesome reef structures such as bombies that come up from 30 m to a mere 5 – giving you a chance to tangle with some spectacular species and the snapper aren’t shy of these grounds either. Currents hit these bombies, creating eddies and pressure points on the reef’s edge, which promotes the concentration of bait – making it easier for anglers to find predatory fish. There is one bombie I fish quite regularly in spring and I have probably caught a snapper off each section of it but all at different times of the day and tides.
Timing is Key
I have found as the sun rises and pushes the fish off the top of the reef they move down the western edge where the sun is creating a nice and safe shadow for the fish to feed in. Low-light periods are the best times to fish shallow reefs as the lack of light makes the fish less wary about coming in close to feed. As the sun rises it can pay off to move into slightly deeper areas but murky water in the shallows can provide you with some extra time to get some more casts in.
As well as timing your trips around tide changes these areas are normally fairly close to shore so tides have a lot to do with it. The hours before and after each end of the tide are normally good bite periods. Planning trips around the moon phases also increases your catch rate. We have found the week leading up to either the full or new moon has resulted in the best catches. First light a couple days either side of these moon phases is critical as once the sun has well and truly come up the fish go off the bite. We believe they are feeding at night and you only get one shot at them first thing in the morning.
Spring accounts for most of the bigger specimens in the Gold Coast and around Tweed Heads but if you put the work in during the warmer months you can still catch some cracking fish. I have heard of snapper being caught throughout the year so with a bit of homework you can really get amongst these fish. The northern NSW coastline features some great grounds with prominent wash zones and shallow bombies so if you get a chance to fish these locations in the cooler months, you’re in for some awesome white knuckle snapper fishing.
Fishing the tides can also produce quailty snapper during the day.
Tackle
Nearly every angler that sees my snapper outfit always ends up saying “geez that looks overkill”. A lot of anglers think snapper won’t bust you off as they fight clean and this remains true for those who catch their snapper on gravel bottom or coffee rock. On several occasions I’ve taken mates out and insisted they upsize their leader, use a heavier gauge jighead and lock up their drags only to be met with blank faces. Next moment they’ve been busted off and forced to tie on a new leader – heavy reef country will do that to you! My outfit consists of a Shimano 5000 Sustain matched with a G. Loomis Pro Blue 12 to 25 lb rod spooled with 30 lb Sunline braid. There are a few reasons why such a heavy outfit is important:
1. It’s important to be able to muscle big fish out of heavy country
2. There are a lot of other species you can catch while snapper fishing on these reefs such as kingfish, cobia, GTs and jewfish so you don’t want to be under-gunned.
3. Since you only have a small window to catch these fish a lot of the time, the last thing you want to be doing is chasing a solid fish around on light line for a tedious amount of time.
Don’t get me wrong you can land some solid fish on light gear but when Mr 20 pounder jumps on in 10 m of water you want all the muscle you can get. Over the years we have tried all sorts of leader and we found that 3 0lb leader is a good all-rounder thanks to a good bite rate and not busting on a locked drag. I must add it’s also handy to have a light set-up ready for later in the day if the water clears up and you’re looking to put a few keepers in the esky.
Downsizing your baits on slow days can still produce quality fish. Jayden caught this snapper on a 5 inch jerkshad.
Technique
When it comes to technique there isn’t really much to it. Probably the most important things to take into account is positioning your boat for the right drift and choosing a correctly weighted plastic. When fishing the shallow reefs for snapper remember that you’re trying to target fish that are 20 to 30 m in front of the boat as opposed to those underneath it. In 10 m of water there’s a good chance that once you’re on top of them they’ve already been spooked.
When heading to your first spot of the morning it’s a good idea to pull up just short of your chosen location to judge wind and drift directions. Remember, you need to get your drift right so as to not spook the fish – it really can make or break cracking a big snapper. Once you’ve set up the correct drift start firing casts in the direction you are drifting. Occasionally give the rod an upwards crank to ensure the plastic hops off the bottom. This is where the lightly weighted (and natural looking) soft plastic comes into play. As you slowly mend line back onto the reel keep close attention to the line sitting on top of the surface as it can be your best bite indicator. Sometimes you won’t even feel it through the rod; instead you will only notice a little tick in the line. But the best bite of all and the thing I love most about this fishing is when everything comes tight all the way back to your reel and it’s game on!
The snapper will bite on the drop 99 per cent of the time so give the plastic as much hang time in the water column as possible. Once you’ve finished your drift it pays to do a big loop around your mark which helps to avoid spooking any fish you may have missed. Repeating the process this time, change your drift lines. A good sounder/GPS is vital for recording your drift lines and to help work out which area you haven’t targeted as yet. Like I said earlier if you get your drift right there is no reason why that plastic shouldn’t get smashed on its first swim through the water column!
Once hooked up it’s important to stay tight to the fish because they have a tendency to swim at your boat – take into account that you’re fishing shallow water and line can become slack very easily. A handy tool to have onboard is a sea anchor or drogue as they come into their own in windy conditions and strong currents. Sea anchors slow your drift down so the angler can get more time to cast over the section of reef being fished.
This technique can be applied to any offshore plastic fishing – it’s just a matter of choosing the correctly weighted plastic for the right situation.
Summary
Plastic fishing for snapper is by no means a new technique and anyone can have a crack at it but by taking the things I have explained into account I hope you’ve become more confident in achieving success. By getting your timing right there’s a good chance you could be back at the ramp at 7 am with a few cracking knobbies on the board. Plus once you’ve felt your first snapper bite on plastics and the first screaming run I am sure you will be just as hooked as I am. Go get ‘em!
